Tax filing season will be here before you know it, and there is a big change on the tax forms that almost 50 percent of Americans aren’t aware of. Tax filers will be required to verify that they have health insurance when they file their 2014 taxes, or face a penalty.
An Intuit TurboTax survey carried out by Harris Poll among over 2,000 people aged 18 or over found that around 48 percent of Americans are still unaware of this new Obamacare rule.
The deadline to avoid having to pay a penalty for the 2014 tax season has already been and gone, although 87 percent don’t actually realize that. However, about 62 percent of Americans without health insurance do realize that they will have to pay some sort of penalty for not having current and valid health insurance.
Sacha Adam, the TurboTax representative in charge of the affordable care act pointed out that most Americans simply don’t register or don’t understand the important relationship between their taxes and their health care. This is despite the fact that open enrollment is still taking place at the moment.
People living in the southern states are less likely to have health insurance than those living in other states, although about 90 percent of all Americans have health insurance.
Premium tax credits have been designed to make health insurance more affordable for families on a low to moderate income, although almost 50 percent of all Americans are not aware of these.
Almost 75 percent of those who bought health insurance through the health insurance open marketplace say that they will renew their insurance the next year. TurboTax has a strong presence in the San Diego area and the company offers information and tips on Obamacare and many other tax and health insurance topics at TurboTaxHealth.com.